When attempting to defeat the competition on a daily basis, as a wholesale or retail specialist, it’s become increasingly important to understand more than just the ins and outs of the more traditional aspects of the business. Sometimes it’s necessary to be able to move effortlessly within the swirling waters of Internet security, and online fraud. Being able to identify and anticipate the methods in which fraudsters make their scores can be invaluable knowledge to an online dealer who wants to instill a sense of security in even the most timid or skeptical of shoppers.

In short, knowing what the customer knows (or perhaps should know) will keep everyone on the same page. It will also create a sense of trust in the buyer community.

Shopping online has indeed become a very popular and preferred method of avoiding holiday sales crowds for many consumers, but it’s also become a very enticing place for fraud criminals to zero in their sites, as the numbers of shoppers on the web grow rapidly year after year.

In the past, it might have been okay to just blindly click on sites, and even to refer to the first search engine that was available for browsing. These days, looking for a particular item is often best accomplished by going to a well-known price-comparison site such as PriceGrabber.com or Dealio.com for reputable price reporting. If searching and verifying wholesalers and suppliers are the desired search results, then a vertical search engine and trade platform would be an even wiser choice.

In addition, looking for security labels such as VeriSign and Cybertrust, or being sure to check for the “https://” prefix to appear in the URL is recommended, especially on pages that prompt a visitor to enter personal information.

Reminding shoppers to maintain records and check account histories frequently will help to prevent unwanted incidents. Prompting customers to use one particular account for online purchases will make it easier to track down fraud, too.

The old adage of “too good to be true” deals is still very much alive and well these days, and making sure that customers are aware of the boundaries will help to keep the Internet retail and sales community from suffering undue negative reputations. Shoppers should be cautioned from buying into scams that over-promise and under-deliver.

Recently, there has been a lot of attention put towards shopping from public Wi-Fi connections. This is a practice that can’t be stopped, since it also represents the ultimate in convenience for shoppers using their handheld devices and smartphones for making purchases, but it should become a regular practice to offer secure channels and encrypted access points for them to securely make their purchase decisions, while giving the overall image of online sales a boost.

Paying with money transfers and wire payments may not be the way to go, say experts in the fraud management services departments of major online enterprises. A sale made with a credit card will offer a great deal more security than a wire transfer, since disputes can be backed up with records of all transactions through a bank or credit agency. Wire transfers are a sure way to invite fraud, and eventually burn enough customers to make selling without credit card options a problem.

Finally, the rise of email-based marketing has been a real boon to many enterprises that sincerely want to reach out to their customers and prospects with messages that offer value and legitimate services, but many of these have been turned to scams in recent years. Encouraging consumers to avoid following email links that are unsolicited or unrecognized is a good practice, as it will help limit the activity on fraudulent sites as customers become more aware, through the efforts of responsible retailers and other sellers who want to keep things safe for everyone.